TRENDING Brewers sweep Dodgers Guardians take 2-1 ALCS lead NFL updates Broncos defeat Seahawks in OT WNBA All-Defensive first team Story by Story by Instant Analysis: Two Nights After Blowout Win, Blues Get Rattled Despite Late Rally In 5-4 Loss To Wild Lou Korac Fri, October 16, 2026 at 4:01 AM UTC · 9 min read About Our Ads Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The St. Louis Blues knew the objective would be tough facing the Minnesota Wild on Thursday despite the home side missing a plethoraof key players due to injury.
Insteadof accounting for who wasn't in the Blues' lineup, they needed tobe more mindful of of the ones that were in the game, namely theWild's best players.
Minnesota'stop line of Matt Boldy, Kirill Kaprizov and JoelEriksson Ek combined for nine points, and Quinn Hughes –Minnesota's best defenseman – had two assists, and theturnover-prone Blues, in search of a three-game winning streak, sawthat notion come crashing to a halt despitemaking it interesting late ina 5-4loss at Grand Casino Arena in St. Paul, Minn.
TheBlues (3-3-1) have split their two games of a three-game road trip after a 7-2 win against the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday.
Let'sget to the key moments of the game …
*Too many turnovers – If there's one thing the Blues have done adecent job of in the early going this season is take care of thepuck.
Eventhough the Blues were playing not up to par, two costly turnovers leddirectly to Wild goals that essentially put the game away.
Ithad already been a tough night for the Cam-Fowler-Brandon Carlodefensive pairing (more below), but the Blues had some positivemomentum going, and when Connor McMichael paid a puck for Fowler tostep into in the offensive zone and the veteran D-man fumbled it, itled to the Wild transitioning the other way, and Kaprizov wouldeventually make it 4-2 at 8:47 of the second period:
Andin the simplest of plays, and at the end of his shift, Philip Broberghad a puck on the left side of the ice, and as partner Colton Paraykowent off for a change, Justin Barron jumped on, took a pass fromBroberg but fumbled it in the neutral zone.
Thepuck turned back in the D-zone, Broberg is tired and badly needed achange, and the line on the ice wasn't able to win a puck backbefore Kaprizov found Boldy for a one-timer in the left circle forthe hat trick goal and a 5-2 lead at 16:47 of the second:
Theturnovers were a microcosm of the Blues' play throughout much ofthe game that kept this game closer than the score thanks to someterrific saves by Joel Hofer.
And then there was that learning moment for Dylan Peterson, playing in just his second NHL game.
Instead of chipping a puck in and going to work on the forecheck, which is his game, the 24-year-old tried to stick-handle along the wall, got stripped and it was off to the races for Minnesota before Danila Yurov made it 2-1 at 11:17 of the first:
*Too many odd-man rushes – The Blues, even with the Wild missing alot of their veteran players, couldn't afford to play a track meetgame against this team.
Buttying in with the turnovers, that's what it turned into, and atleast through two periods, the odd-man chances were 6-1 in favor ofthe Wild and scoring chances were 21-11. A lot of those came off theodd-man rushes, but as mentioned, Hofer was making some really nicestops.
*Tough night for the Fowler-Carlo pairing – A veteran pairing thathad been really strong to begin the season, this pairing did not havea good night.
Wealready mentioned the fumbled puck of Fowler that led to Minnesota'sfourth goal, but it seemed like they were a step slow in readingcoverage and as a result, backing in instead of attacking Minnesota'sforwards.
Let'scall it a one-off, or at least Blues fans hope it is, because theyhave been steady-solid to begin the season.
Fowlerdid end up with three assists in the game after two late third-periodgoals, but through 40 minutes, he and Carlo were each a minus-3 and athree-goal deficit was too much to overcome.
*Berggren takes advantage – With Pavel Buchnevich (expecting birthof child) returning to St. Louis and missing the game, the Bluesneeded someone to step into the special teams slot vacated byBuchnevich, and Jonatan Berggren, already getting minutes on the PK,was inserted onto the power play and it paid immediate dividends witha beautiful power move to the net and backhand goal that actuallygave the Blues a 1-0 lead 1:45into the game that gave Berggren a four-game point streak (two goals,two assists):
*McTavish keeps shining – Hoferhad made a series of really good saves that at the time kept it aone-goal game at 2-1, and you had a sense that normally when thathappens, teams find a way to score the tying goal, and Mason McTavishdid just that when his breakaway goal, off a clever pass from PiusSuter to spring him, tied the game 2-2 at 4:57 of the second:
Itwas just what the doctor ordered until …
*Poor shift after tying goal – TheWild retook the lead just 27 seconds later when Boldy would get hissecond of the game and make it 3-2 and the Blues could never recover.
Bluescoach Jim Montgomery had the Dalibor Dvorsky line on the ice with Jake Neighbours and Pius Suter and the Fowler-Carlo pairing, and whatdoes a coach always say after scoring: the next shift of alwayscrucial.
TheBlues actually get the puck into the Minnesota zone, and they're inposition everywhere on the ice, but when the puck gets whipped alongthe right boards to the Blues' blue line, the puck gets chipped in,and Fowler had already backed in and was now fending a 2-on-1forecheck, which he wasn't able to win, and Jake Neighbours wascaught puck-watching until it was too late to identify where Boldywas:
Butultimately what was a 3-on-3 from the blue line going in wasn'tplayed well at all and cost the Blues big time.
*Costly penalties against league's top power play unit hurt – Thestrong start on the Berggren goal was wiped out by two costlypenalties that enabled Boldy to get his first of the night and tieit.
McTavishwas whistled for a high stick 200 feet from his net, then Neighboursgot called for tripping giving Minnesota 28 seconds of a 5-on-3,which the Wild took advantage of on Boldy's one-timerat 7:31 of the first, or with five seconds on the two-man advantage.
Andeven though the Blues have been strong out of the gates on the PK,having to kill five penalties against this team despite going 4-for-5is asking a lot.
*Thomas, Holloway finally get on the board; can that get them going?-- Well,yoou were just sitting back and wondering when Robert Thomas and/orDylan Holloway would get on the board with goals.
Two-thirdsof the Blues' top line, along with Jimmy Snuggerud, has seenremnants of looking like they would break out, and they combined forsix points last Saturday in a win over the Columbus Blue Jackets, butit had been slim pickings for this unit as a whole.
Servinga penalty when Hofer was nabbed for interfering with Kaprizov behindthe Blues' net, Thomas would finish off a play and score the Blues'third shorthanded goal in seven games and second in as many to makeit a 5-3 game with four minutes on the clock, using patience to gainthe zone before feeding Fowler for a good look beforepotting home the rebound:
Andwith a sixth attacker on the ice, Holloway finally got his first with15 seconds on the clock to make it 5-4:
Thegoals didn't help the Blues win, but just getting on the boardcould certainly fuel this trio on a run, which they can definitelybenefit from.
*Need to start winning divisional games – Afterbeating the Dallas Stars 4-0 in the season-opener, the Blues have nowlost three straight to divisional opponents. This was a sore spotlast season when they went 10-16-0 in that department, and ifthey want to be relevant in the playoff chase this season, those arethe teams they're going to have to be beating, and with anotherdivisional game on the road – the first five within the divisionare on the road – against the Nashville Predators on Saturday,these are the games they need to start being on the better side of.
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